Cooking for kids – little S in particular

A Simple Lunch with so much to prove!

Until I came to the United States at the age of 16, I had never heard of special meals for kids – except maybe for really small kids who had 2 teeth or less.
We got to eat everything that the adults were eating.
I feel bad for kids who are made to eat “special” food because I don’t think that it is special at all.

More often than not, it is tasteless, unhealthy and the flavors are one-dimensional. Things like chicken fingers, french fries and plain spaghetti – are not an adequate representation of all the food that exists in the world. It is certainly not the way to begin one’s foray into the world of all that is edible.

There is not just the taste and the nutrition (or lack of) that bothers me about kids’ meals – it is also the major disservice that parents are doing to the child’s gastronomic life. Kids might learn to be picky eaters if they are offered choices different from what the adults are eating.  All the tip toeing around, and fear that parents express while the child eats something, or not, gives the child a sense of unhealthy control.

I wish parents would present a variety of food in various forms; and as something to be grateful and excited about. Not a chore, not a struggle, and certainly not a fight.

While I do not have kids – I was a kid once and have been around plenty of kids both in India and in the United States. So, based on those experiences and very strong opinions – I deal with kids – both personally and professionally (as a cooking teacher).

Now to the story that prompted me to write this post:

At the last moment I was asked to entertain/babysit my friend’s 6 year old.  “What am I going to feed her,” was my first thought.  Food always happens to be my first thought.  It was so last minute that I had no time to go out and purchase anything.  I also wanted to conduct my own experiment on her.  I am crazy like that – what can I say!

The statements about scared parents who try to act like short order cooks in their own homes is partially based on my friend M and her daughter S.  “She is the most picky eater,” my friend tells me all the time.  I roll my eyes every time I am on the phone with her and think to myself, “If only I had S to myself for a few days, I would show her that she doesn’t have to be a picky eater.”

M always say that S refuses to eat anything green ever.  I have met other kids like that, who shun green.  I vowed to myself that I am going to make S eat something green; not forcefully or by sneaking it into something like a french fry.  I am going to trick her.  Yes, trickery is the best policy here.  But its for S’s own good, I rationalized.

A Rule: Start small (works for adults too).  If someone won’t eat anything green, don’t set yourself and the other to fail by expecting them to eat a salad!

It was around Easter and bunnies were on everyone’s mind.  I used that to my advantage.  When S was left under my care and the door to the apartment closed with M on the other side of it, I told S that I was so hungry.  I asked her if she would stay with me in the kitchen while I cooked myself some lunch.  She agreed and I opened the cupboard and began staring at it and mumbling that I didn’t know what to eat.

I had strategically placed this box right in front on the shelf.

“Why don’t you eat some macaroni and cheese,” suggested S.

“That’s such a great idea – I love mac and cheese and peas,” I said with exaggerated excitement.

S looked at me as if I had just told her that Miley Cyrus was a boy and not a girl (I am not sure if 6 year olds are into Miley Cyrus – but you get the point).  She appeared shocked but didn’t say a word.

I pulled down the box and also a box of sardines.  S took a step back.

I put some water to boil and chatted with S about her day and how school was going, etc.  Then I looked at the box and said, “Aw, look at the bunny in the picture – but bunnies don’t eat pasta.  That is so silly”.  I kept blabbering and telling her about my friend L’s bunny who I take care of sometimes.  “He eats nothing but some parsley, dill and basil -  with 2 baby carrots as a treat.”

The water came to a boil and I put in the pasta; I opened the freezer and took out the peas and put them next to the sardines.  So far I was just making lunch for myself as far as S was concerned – I hadn’t suggested to S that she eat some with me or asked if she was hungry, and what would she like, etc.  When about 2 minutes were left for the pasta to be cooked, I threw in a handful of peas without hesitation.  I stirred the pasta and peas and set up the colander in the sink to drain them in a couple of minutes.

I pulled out the 2 percent milk from the refrigerator and opened the can of sardines and drained the oil out.  After the pasta and peas were drained, I put them back in the same pot right away and poured 1/2 cup of milk and stirred in the cheese packet.  As it was simmering, I picked up the empty box and said that I feel bad that the bunnies don’t get to have what they really eat, in my lunch bowl.  “O, I do have some parsley!”  I picked a few leaves and held them up like a bunch of flowers.  “Could you hold these for me while I stir the pot again?”

My lunch was ready, I put a little more than half in my bowl and said to S that it was too much for me to eat.  Would she like to try some, I asked her.  “Sure,” I was told.  I scraped the rest of the mac and cheese and peas (green) in her bowl and told her to decorate the bowls with the parsley since we eat with our eyes first.  She looked at her hand with the parsley “bouquet” and stuck a few leaves on her bowl and a few on mine.

“That looks pretty, lets eat.  O, I forgot my sardines.”  I put three of the four on my bowl and ate one standing over the sink as I was soaking the pot for rapid clean up later.  I wasn’t about to push my luck and get into eating sardines – I was going to keep it simple and get her to eat green things.  Peas and parsley in this case.

We sat on the table and ate – S with her mac and cheese and peas and parsley; me with my mac and cheese and peas and parsley and sardines and a dollop of Siracha hot sauce.

Mission accomplished!

Street Foods of India – Gol Gappas, in particular

May 1st, 2009

I am so excited because I taught the Street Foods of India class again. Once again it was a hit amongst the students. I had a great time too.

What made me the happiest was the ease with which all the students accepted Gol Gappas.

A gol gappa or pani puri is a round, hollow “puri”, fried crisp and filled with a watery mixture of tamarind, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas. Its size is small enough to fit in the mouth.

Gol Gappas are a bit of an acquired taste. Not like eating tripe or eyeballs kind of acquired taste, but definitely something that most people haven’t experienced.

And it requires a leap of faith – kinda – to try a gol gappa.
The fact that you have to put a ball full of spicy and tangy water into your mouth, and experience the explosion of flavors – can be scary to some.

I have nothing to back this up but I don’t think that 5 years ago I would have been able to find so many people willing to try something like a gol gappa and actually enjoy it.

Indian food has come a long way in America and that makes me so happy.

One of the students in my class, an Indian living in New York probably as long as me thought that my class was authentic (as in the food we made). That was a huge compliment because I will be honest – when I was planning to teach Street Foods of India, I thought I might not be able to replicate those authentic flavors of India. I didn’t want the food to taste watered down or inauthentic.

Another student had been to India many times but was not able to experience street foods due to the fear of getting sick; I was so happy to be able to share this experience with her.

So Street Foods of India is going to stay on the schedule at Indian Culinary Center for quite some time to come.

What is your favorite Indian Street Food?

John’s Pizzeria on Bleecker

Despite having been to the West Village a countless number of times I had never been to John’s Pizzeria.  The biggest reason is that there was always a line around the block and being a true New Yorker – standing in line for food doesn’t really do it for me.  Judging by the line I also thought that it may just be a tourist trap.  I have plenty of good pizza joints in my neighborhood.

When I’m wrong – I’m wrong.

While John’s pizza is not the best pizza that I have ever had in this great city of mine; what surprised me most and frankly endeared them to me was the attitude of the servers.  They were friendly – not in the cloying sweet manner at places like Olive Garden (yes, I have been to Olive Garden!  God help me),  or the hovering over our table way.  They just seemed to be having a good time, and didn’t wait on us as though they were doing us a favor.

I had really thought that due to the immense popularity of this place, I would be given an attitude and that I would feel rushed.  Not so at all.

We stumbled upon the place on Friday around 5PM – I like stumbling into a place that then turns out to be good.  If we had made a plan and then gotten there, there would be all this anticipation and production.  I don’t like that.  So, we stumbled upon John’s – both my friend and I having lived in NYC forever had never been there precisely due to the long lines.  The line was maybe 8 people deep at the most and just as we joined the line – we were ushered in because we were looking for a table for 2.  “Its really good not to have too many friends,” I mumbled as we tried to maneuver ourselves through the line.

As I followed our server to our table – I thought – “here we go, they are going to give us the smallest table possible somewhere in the corner or right in the lap of the next table.”  Wrong again, we were shown to a booth.  I was so happy.  I had to go to the loo and I put my stuff down and went to find it.  That line was longer than the line of hungry diners outside the restaurant.  As I was waiting my turn to go into the 6ft by 4ft bathroom, I must admit I as getting a tad nervous about the waiter.  I thought, they are going to wonder where I went, and when am I getting back because we have to order, eat up and leave – to let in the next people.

Wrong again!

Got to our booth – and my friend was more anxious to order than the server.  We decided to share a house salad and medium pepperoni pizza.

I looked around at our surroundings – we were sitting on a well worn wooden booth, there was a signed picture of the NYPD guys to my right.  People had scratched things into the walls – it almost seemed like it was encouraged – judging by the way the public/blatant places the scratched out words were in.  To my left was a large table of 8 or 9 and they were definitely tourists (which is not a bad thing- we need tourists in our city).  To the left wall there were 4 preppy teenagers who seemed to be moneyed and right from the neighborhood.  And in front of me – in the booth near the window was a young couple that looked like was on a date.  There were also other tables behind me that looked like young families with babies of all shapes and sizes – some cute enough that I just had to ignore my friend and watch them struggle with their spaghetti.  I love watching toddlers eating spaghetti.

Our salad came – an old fashioned salad with iceberg lettuce, raw sliced mushrooms, raw onions, 4 wedges of tomatoes and lots of dressing.  My french instructor’s voice rang in my ear – too much dressing – this salad is overdressed!  Hell with that guy – I love too much dressing – and moreover I am not sitting in Chez John’s – I am in John’s Pizzeria on Bleeker street.

We dished our overdressed salad on the very tiny plates where some of it had to fall onto the table – but that is great – I love it.  It was quite good – not very high expectations lead to easy fulfillment.

As we were eating the salad and catching up, the pizza came – and was put on a stand on the side of the table.  It looked good – just like a pizza should.  I straight away took this picture – then I looked up – there was a fan on and I contemplated on telling them to turn it off so as to not cool down our pizza.  I decided against it.

The pizza was good – I don’t know what else to say about it since what blew me away was the friendliness of the place as opposed to the quality of the pizza.  This does not mean that the pizza was bad – it was good.  The crust was thin, we didn’t load it up with too many ingredients and I put some red pepper and garlic on it – it hit home just right.

I will definitely go back if there is not such a line and enjoy their hospitality.  They don’t need to be nice but still are.  I give them top most points for that!

Tandoori Style Chicken

T for Tandoori Style Chicken

Chicken Tikka

3 lbs. skinless chicken pieces (breast, thighs and legs)

Marinade:
1 cup plain yogurt
2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
2 Tbs. minced fresh garlic
1 Tbs. Cumin powder
2 Tbs. Coriander Powder
½ tsp. Turmeric powder
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 Tbs. Canola Oil
¼ cup lemon or lime juice
Salt to taste
Cilantro or Mint for garnish

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the marinade and mix well. Taste for seasoning before adding the chicken.
Marinate the chicken and refrigerate covered overnight or for at least 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the chicken on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minute or until the chicken is cooked.
If you want the chicken to be browned while cooking, remove some of the marinade and place the pieces about ½ inch apart on the baking tray.
Serve hot, garnished with cilantro.

For Grilling:
For smaller pieces of chicken – use metal skewers, or leave the pieces large enough so they don’t fall into the grill.

To make the Chicken Tikka Masala

1 Onion, finely diced
2 Tomatoes diced or 1 cup of canned tomatoes, crushed
2 tbs Vegetable Oil
1 tsp. Cumin Seeds
1 tsp. Cumin Powder
½ tsp. Cayenne
1 tbs. Coriander Powder
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. minced ginger
Salt to taste
½ cup heavy cream (optional)
1 cup water

In a sauté pan, heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. After about a minute add the onions and salt; and sauté for about 5 minutes until they are brown and caramelized. Add the cumin powder, coriander powder and cayenne pepper. Stir well and add the ginger and garlic. Cook another minute or so and add the tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Stir and simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes. Add the cream if using.

Now add the left over chicken tikka to the sauce and heat over low heat. When the chicken is heated through taste the sauce and adjust seasoning.

Serve hot.

Substitute the chicken for fish or paneer.

Until I eat again

This is a Kati Roll (think Indian Burrito). Wouldn’t this pick you up in the middle of the day?

S for Start Something New

May I suggest:
Pack your own lunch to work.
Start what feels comfortable.

If you have never done this before, start with 1 or 2 a week.
You will save more money than you can imagine.

If you take lunch a few times a week – add a couple more.

It’s healthful, delicious and a great money saver.

And you don’t have to cook in the morning.
With some planning, you can take left overs for lunch by turning things into sandwiches, roll ups, etc.

Start with what you have in your office.
If you have a microwave – you are all set.
You can take left over stews and soups and pastas to work.

I would love that in the middle of the day, wouldn’t you?

I know I’m jumping the gun here. This is my leftover treat from last Thanksgiving.
The point is – anything you make for sunday dinner – you can take to work the next day.

If you don’t have a microwave, think sandwiches, salads, wraps, etc.

This is a stuffed Potato Paratha – flat bread.

I could go on and on. There are hundreds of things you can take to the office.

I will come back to this topic at another time.

What do you like to take to work?

Until I eat again!

R is for Rice – more specifically Basmati Rice.

So why the Trader Joe’s box? I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while and thought this to be a good time.

I am not a frozen food kind of gal, but once in a while I just want to try them out to see what’s happening in the frozen food industry.
I love Trader Joe’s. You might wonder how someone could LOVE a food store – well, I do. I don’t feel ripped off each time I go there – as I do in my neighborhood. And I always find something new and interesting.

On a recent trip to the large Trader Joes in Brooklyn Heights, I stumbled upon this Indian frozen dinner, and thought I would try it. To satisfy my curiosity, and also of many students who tend to ask me how various frozen foods taste when we are on our walking tours around the city.

Here is my philosophy on frozen entrees:

If you expect them to be as good as your mother’s (if your mother is a good cook), or as good as your favorite restaurant – well, then you are setting yourself up for a major disappointment (not to mention, an unrealistic expectation).
But if you look at frozen food as something in the freezer that can be ready within a few minutes, and offers you sustenance in a pinch – then you are on the right track. Is your mother’s lasagna going to be better than Stouffer’s? Of course it is. It’s the same for ethnic foods too. I always tell people not to buy an Indian frozen entrée and then use that as an example of how ALL Indian food is supposed to taste.

Keeping that in mind, and in the name of research I bought a box of Butter Chicken. It was all of $2.99 – and so not an obscene amount of money at all.

The instructions were easy enough: defrost for 5 minutes and then cook on high for 4 minutes. Let stand for a couple of minutes before eating.

I played a game of online scrabble while I waited.

The picture of the nan on the box made me want some. But such is life. And the calories – 270 for 1 serving and there are 1 ½ servings in the box. I don’t know anyone who would eat the one serving and offer the half to a friend. It does make me think how much we eat. If I cooked something like that at home – I would probably eat twice that amount. But that is a post for another time – portion sizes.
Still playing my game – certainly smells good in here. Smells coming out of the microwave smell like food – not chemical or processed aromas.
Taste test: Not bad at all. Dare I say, maybe even better than someone’s mom, or certain restaurants that I’ve eaten at. The sauce (curry) had a nice tangy flavor – didn’t taste of anything artificial. The rice might have had a slight, really slight perfumed aroma – but that’s fine with me. The spicing was just right. It was a bit spicy – my threshold being really high – it was very good for someone with a normal palate. Ample pieces of chicken – good amount of sauce for the amount of rice. Chicken was tender.

The rice was perfectly cooked, seemed a good quality Basmati – each grain was long and separate – just what you are looking for in basmati rice. The rice was definitely better cooked than some of the rice I have made in my life.
Thumbs up! A winner! I would definitely buy it again. It might even help me with my portions and maybe, just maybe I’ll start eating less.
Tall order for a little box of frozen food from Trader Joe’s…but a girl can dream.
$2.99 well spent.

What are your favorite Indian entrees?

Until I eat again.

Quesadillas

Q for … I can’t think of an Indian dish starting with Q – so today, Q is for Quesadillas.

Quesadillas all Weekend

Quesadillas are a versatile dish that can incorporate the flavors of your favorite cuisine.

Q for….I can’t think of anything Indian – so Q is for Quesadillas

I have been reading a lot lately about how to save money. One of the constants in life is eating-no matter the economic climate. I read with fascination people who are able to shop for a week for a family of 4 for $60. I go to the store and buy barely enough for 2 meals and have spent close to that amount. Then I think that those people live in Podunk City, Nowhere. Then I get annoyed and carry on living the way that I do buying expensive grocery items and not keeping tabs on how much I am spending. But in the back of my mind I always fantasize to be one of those budget keeping people.

I am apartment sitting for a friend for the weekend and got to her place on Saturday afternoon. I took the subway in and so brought no groceries with me. That evening I went down to get some stuff. I wasn’t sure what I was going to get or where. She lives in a neighborhood with plenty of choices. I walked past the Key Food and the Damascus Bakery. A brand new Trader Joe’s opened around the corner and I thought I would go in there but shied away from the huge crowds that I saw milling about. I thought I’d just buy some pre-made stuff and not worry about it. A movie was about to start on HBO in half and hour. I reprimanded my self and kept walking on. I came to Perelandra. This is a natural/organic food store that I have only encountered in Brooklyn. I knew I needed to get toothpaste and milk for my morning coffee. I put those 2 things in my basket and started to cruise the aisles. It is a very small store and so I must have gone around twice before I knew what I was going to get. The milk in my cart was calling out for some cereal that I would have for breakfast. I have talked about my partaking of breakfast every morning in my previous posts. I stood in front of all the boxes for quite some time and finally settled on Raisin Bran.

What am I going to have for dinner tonight? Something bread related since I felt too lazy to boil pasta at this late hour. I picked up tortillas since a loaf bread seemed too breakfasty- and I already had the cereal. Tortillas only meant one thing for dinner-Quesadillas. I went to the meat freezer and got sausages-there is not much of a choice of meats here. Now for some cheese. Pre-grated while convenient is a rip off. I got the jalapeno pepper jack cheese. Now some creamy thing. Since I was in such a health-oriented store I was feeling noble. Why not some yogurt instead of sour cream? Okay Greek yogurt. The larger container gave me sticker shock- almost 6 bucks – so I got the small one for less that 2 bucks. Right now I am thinking that this stuff is going to cost me an arm and a leg in this earthy crunchy store and I am just a couple of blocks from Trader Joe’s and Key Food where my bill would have been easily 1/2 less of what is was going to be here. It was getting later and later -never go food shopping hungry and without a shopping list. Quesadillas need some sort of salsa – something I could make easily but not now. I went to the salsa aisle and still with a virtuous ring over my head got some bean dip. Without even calculating how much all this would add up – I was feeling poor and wasn’t going to buy any vegetables.

Its not easy trying to be healthful and eat organic food and non antibiotic injected animals etc. I totally understand why people who are economically challenged buy inferior quality food and convenience food-because it is soooo much cheaper. Not just a few cents here and there-almost 50 percent less.

I am at the checkout and the girl is very polite and making small talk-something that doesn’t happen at the supermarket where I live. She puts the 8 things I bought in a bag and tells me $36.44. I put on my poker face like I do this everyday and that I have enough money to warrant this shopping and hand her 2 twenties.

I realize that one can have 1 takeout meal for $20 and I wasn’t going to eat all of this in one sitting – but it still seemed like a lot of money for the amount of things I bought. Essentially 2 meals and dribs and drabs of others and toothpaste that I would use for over 1 month. It is still a lot of money-there is no denying that.

I walked home thinking of the people who are running a household of 4 and who have to feed their families everyday and don’t make huge salaries and don’t have a lot of time.

I am not those people and so I set about making my dinner for 1.

Quesadillas

Slice 2 sausages and cook with a quarter of sliced onion. Dice a quarter of an onion (scallions will do nicely here). Slice or grate your favorite cheese (preferably something that melts and strong enough to stand up to strong flavors-like pepper jack or sharp cheddar). A few leaves of cilantro.

Assemble the quesadilla by spreading a table spoon of the black bean salsa on the tortilla. Place the cheese in a single layer on half of the tortilla. Add half the sausage onion mix and sprinkle some of the diced raw onion and a few leaves of cilantro. Fold over the tortilla and create a half moon. Put it to side and make the second tortilla.

Now heat a pan that will fit the quesadilla comfortably and add a tsp. of olive oil (or any neutral tasting oil like canola). Gently place the half moon like tortilla in the pan and let it cook on one side on medium high heat. You should let the cheese melt and resist the urge to move or turn the quesadilla for about a minute. Now flip it with a spatula taking care not to drop any of the ingredients from the quesadilla. Cook another minute or so until the outside of the tortilla looks golden brown and slightly crispy.

Place the quesadilla on a cutting board and cut into 4 pieces.

Now put on a plate, top with yogurt or sourcream and the salsa. Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy Quesadillas hot and don’t fret the tough economic down turn while you eat.

Do what I say and not necessarily what I do:

Yogurt is not an entirely satisfactory substitute for Sour Cream.

Don’t put too much of the Black Bean Dip on the tortilla.

The Organic 7-grain tortilla wraps may be good for me but they don’t crisp up like the overly processed flour tortillas.

Grate the cheese as opposed to slice it (my friend didn’t seem to have a box grater).

Some sort of tomato-ey thing is important…a salsa or something.

What are your favorite fillings for quesadillas?

Until I eat again!